For the Pacers, as much as this season is about upending the Heat and winning a championship, there is a simultaneous focus on the team’s most pressing roster issue—keeping guard Lance Stephenson, a free agent after the season, in Indiana.

Stephenson has insisted he will stay with the Pacers, and Indiana is willing to pay Stephenson as much as possible to keep him. But that’s where things get murky—the Pacers will not cross the league’s luxury-tax threshold, and with the current construction of the roster, they would have to do so in order to give Stephenson fair-market value.

If the Pacers don’t address the Stephenson problem, there will be wolves with cap space lurking. The Lakers, Bulls and Bobcats will be among the teams who can and would offer an ample payday and increased opportunity for Stephenson this summer.

As things stand, the Pacers are looking at a payroll of $68 million next summer. The luxury tax is projected to kick in at $75.7 million, which, obviously, leaves the Pacers at a $7.7 million starting point for signing Stephenson. Under NBA rules, the Pacers could sign Stephenson to a deal worth $44 million over five years, or an average of $8.8 million per year.

That’s probably not market value for Stephenson, though, not after a year in which he has averaged 14.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists—and considering he is only 23 years old. He has exceeded expectations this season and could well win Most Improved Player, but in doing so, he has upped his price tag. One general manager told Sporting News that Stephenson should expect a deal that starts, “in eight-figure land.”

Eight-figure land is $10 million, of course. That’s five years, $57 million. If the Pacers can’t give him that, surely a team with cap space will give him four years, $43 million. (Under NBA rules, the Pacers can offer a five-year contract, and other teams can offer four.)

Over the last five summers, consider the contracts signed by shooting guards in Stephenson’s age and production range:

There are some outliers there—Lou Williams on the low end, Eric Gordon on the high end—but the average per-year salary among those players is $9.2 million, which is only slightly out of the Pacers’ range. Of larger concern to the Pacers is the most recent signee on that list, Tyreke Evans. When he gets to free agency, Stephenson can certainly make the case that he deserves an Evans-level deal, in the range of $11 million per year.

The Pacers have the ability to create a little more space. Oddly enough, their situation has been damaged by the rise of star Paul George, who signed a max extension this summer that was supposed to begin at $15.6 million, 25 percent of the salary cap.

But under NBA rules, a player who earns two All-NBA spots in his first four seasons can bump up to 30 percent of the salary cap, and George is sure to do that this year. That means his extension will actually begin at about $18.8 million.

Factoring in George’s bump, here’s how the team’s payroll stacks up:

Because the Pacers will keep Stephenson’s rights, they will have a “cap hold” on the books in his name, based on his current salary, and that amounts to $1.9 million. And with only 11 players under contract, their payroll will be charged a cap hold worth the rookie minimum—teams must have 12 players—of $500,000.

So, the Pacers start at $71.9 million. With a projected tax level of $75.7 million—as well as the need to actually sign more than 12 players—the prospects of signing Stephenson are grim in this scenario. A $75.7 million tax threshold leaves the Pacers a window of just $3.8 million.

But Indiana can create some further space by dumping Luis Scola, whose contract is only guaranteed for $900,000 next season. That creates another $3.6 million in space, putting the payroll at $68.3 million, and gives the Pacers $7.4 million under the tax. That’s better, but it is still not enough to give Stephenson the payday he deserves.

It’s entirely possible, too, that the Pacers will sign Stephenson to the deal he wants, accept the fact that they’re over the tax threshold and work to make cost-cutting deals to get them under the threshold afterward. Point guard George Hill and center Ian Mahinmi could be casualties in that scenario.

Who wants Chris Copeland? He is practically brand new (he has played a measly 112 minutes this season, after all) and, look! He can be had for next to nothing!

A giveaway of the little-used Chris Copeland, signed to a three-year deal in the offseason, would be ideal. It would give the Pacers around $10 million under the tax next summer and allow them to pay Stephenson something close to market value.

So, again: Anyone want Chris Copeland?

DRIBBLES

• Celtics forward Jared Sullinger has put together the best stretch of his young career, averaging 21.3 points and 13.0 rebounds in his last three games. Sullinger had struggled with a hand injury for much of January, and averaged just 11.5 points on 37.2 percent shooting. He credited a chat with his dad for the turnaround. “He said my body language sucked and my attitude sucked,” Sullinger explained. “And he said that’s not what got you here, and he pretty much tried to whoop me back to shape.”

• The Lakers are holding out hope on landing a lottery pick in this year’s draft for big man Pau Gasol, but there have been no takers. Talks with the Cavaliers for the expiring contract of Andrew Bynum fell apart on that basis earlier in the year, and talks with the Suns (who have picks as well as Emeka Okafor’s expiring contract) ended for the same reason this week. Ultimately, Gasol’s salary number--$19 million—limits the options and will force the Lakers back to the table, though, and a deal with Phoenix will likely be revisited.

• The East now has six teams at or above .500, which is indicative of progress for the conference. But more indicative of the gap between the conferences is that only two East teams—Miami and Indiana—have winning records against Western Conference teams. In the West, 12 teams have winning records against the East.